Draft-gear.



T. L'. MOKEBN.

- DRAFT GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.27,1908. 966, 1 14. Pand Aug. 2, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Fkgj. l] v 5 a/ i A 5f mf/f @gw/ THOMAS L. MCKEEN, OF EASTON,PEIJVNSYLVANIA.

DRAFT-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2, 1910.

Application. filed January 27, 190s. serial No. 412,689.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS L. MCKEEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Easton, in the county of Northampton and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful- Improvement inDraft-Gears, of which the following is a specification.

This invention r'elates to draft gears for railway cars and moreparticularly to im .gear disclosed in said application produces agraduated resistance of exceedingly high final capacity, higher than isoften required, butlowing tothe relatively great number of spring platesand the large containing boxes for the same the gear is heavier and moreexpensive than agear having a lower capacity but adequate for Vmanydemands.

The primary object of this invention is to produce, by a novelarrangement of the coil and leaf springs andcoperating parts, a gearwhich is not as heavy and costs less to build and apply to the car thanthe gear disclosedin said application, but which neverthelessfgives-agreater travel of the drawba-r Without unduly increasing the length ofthe gear and offers a nicely graduated resistance of high capacity tothe movement of the draw-bar.

Other obj ectsare to make the gear of such length that it can be used indraw-bar yokes employed with gears already in use; to provide means forpreventing the springs from being driven solid or strained to a harmfuldegree; and tootherwise improve the construction of draft gears of thissort in the respects hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.To this end, two coil springs or two sets of coil springs, and' a set ofleaf springs are arrangedone behind the other `and cooperate withfollowers andP stops so arranged' that first one and then another springcomes into action and finally all act together to produce a nicelygraduated or gradually increasing resistance of high final capacitytothe movement of the draw-bar in either direction.l The two coil springsor sets of coil springs allow a greater travel of the draw-bar than'twosets of leaf springs, and with the followers'which can be used withthem, are lighter and less expensive than leaf springs and thecontaining box followers or other means which are neces,- sitated forkeeping them intact. coil springs consisting of the usual inner and`outer light and heavy coils are preferably employed, but a single coilspring or set of single or double coil springs located side by side,could be used in the place of"`each double coil spring shown in thedrawings without altering the general construction or action ofthe gear,and the term coil spring employed in this specification is therefore notnecessarily intended to mean a single coil.

In the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets: Figure 1 is alongitudinal sectional elevation of a draft gear embodyingv theinvention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view thereof. Figs. 3 and 4arewtransverse sectional elevations thereof, in lines S--S and 4-4,respectively, Fig. 2. Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are views correspondingrespectively with Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, but illustrating a slightlymodified construction.

Like letters of reference refer' to like parts in the several figures.'l

Referring first to Figs. 1-4, A'represents the rear portion of`adraw-bar,-a the usual yoke or loop secured to and extending rearwardlytherefrom; B the 'car draft sills or beams, and hb b2 respectively thefront or outer, rear or inner, and intermediate stops, lugs or abutmentson the draft sills for the followers to bear against in transmitting theshocks and strains on the draw-bar to the draft sills. These parts maybe of any usual or suitable construction, and it may be here stated thatthe gear to be described can be used with the same yoke and front andrear stops that are employed with some draft gears already in use, sothat the gears can be applied to cars in place of such gears withoutrequiring these parts to be replaced or altered. 1

C, D and E represent respectively front or outer, rear or inner, andintermediate followers. As usual, the followers extend transverselythrough the yoke, with the front and rear, vor end, followers normallybearing respectively against the end stops and b. A flat plate can beused for one of the end followers, preferably the front Double Clt 'efor a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

F f represent outer and inner coil springs arranged between and bearingat opposite ends against the fron-t and intermediate followers withinthe cylindrical extension of the intermediate follower.

G g represent outer and inner coil springs arranged between theintermediate and rear followers, and H represents a set of leaf springsor spring plates located in the hollow rear follower. The leaf springsare preferablyv bowed and arranged on edge face to face, transversely ofthe draft gear, with the last spring of the set bearing at its endsagainst the opposite sides of the end wall of the rear follower. Thereare thus provided three springs or sets of springs arranged one behindthe other longitudinally of the gear, which, for convenience, will becalled the front, center and rear springs, respectively. The springshave different capacities, preferably the front spring being theweakest, the center spring the neXt stronger, and the rear spring thestrongest.

The center spring G g bears at opposite ends against front and rearplungers I and K interposed between the same and the in termediate andrear followers. T"e front plunger I bears against the rear end of theintermediate follower and preferably has a stem fi. which extendsthrough said follower and the front spring and terminates short of thefront follower, but is adapted to bear against the saine in the actionof the gea-r. The rear plunger K enters the open end of the rearfollower D and bears against the leaf springs, and it preferably has ainarginal flange k adapted to strike the front end of the rear follower,and a center stein 7c which projects forwardly through the center springand is adapted to strike the front plunger to so limit the relativemove-k ment of these parts as to prevent the center and rear springsfrom being over strained and injured. The conveXed inner face of the endwall of the rear follower also serves `vent the leaf sp from being fullyghtened out and The cvt thus injured. lindrical extension of theintermediate fol loa 1r is adapted to strike the front follower toprevent the front spring F from being driven solid. The springs arenormally strained sufficiently to hold the front and rear followersagainst the draw-bar and end of the yoke and the other parts in theposition shown in Fig. Land 'prevent lost motion or independent play ofthe parts.

The draw-bar yoke and parts within the same can be supported andconfined by any suitable means. Transverse straps or plates L and Mconnecting the draft beams above and below the yoke are shown for thispurpose.

The action of the gear as thus constructed is as follows: In buffing,the rear follower D is held stationary by its stops b and the frontfollower is moved rearwardly by the draw-bar, the pressure beingtransmitted through the several springs, followers and plungers to therear `stops, b. The front 'coil spring F f being the weakest, yieldsfirst until the front follower strikes the stem of the front plunger I.In the continued movement of the draw-bar the front plunger I is pushedrearwardly, compressing the center spring G g. The intermediate followerand front spring move with the front plunger, and the front spring isnot compressed any more until the follower is arrested by Contact withthe intermediate stops b2, when the front spring will be furthercompressed and add its resistance to that of the center spring Gr g.Villen the front plunger strikes the stein of the rea-r plunger K,further compression of the center spring is prevented and the rearplunger is pushed rearwardly and compresses the leaf springs until thefront follower C strikes the front end of the cylindrical extension e ofthe intermediate follower E and the flange .lo of the rear plunger Kstrikes the front end of the rea-r follower D. The engagement of theseparts prevents straining any of the springs beyond a safe limit. Whenthe draw-bar is pulled forward in drawing the car, the front follower Cis held stationary by its stops l) and the rear follower D is drawnforwardly by the yoke, and the leaf springs and center spring G g actingthrough the plungers'K and I and'intermediate follower E compress thefront spring I? until the stem of the front plunger I strikes thefront'follower and prevents further compression of the front spring. Inthe continued forward movement of the rear follower, first the centerspring G g and finally the leaf. springs H will be compressed until thestem'of the rear plunger K strikes the front plunger and the rearfollower D strikes the ilange l: of the rear plunger, when the plungerand `lower will be arrested and further compression of the center andrear springs prevented. As the springs back each other up, all maypossibly be com-` pressed to sonne extent before one spring iscompressed to the liniit but their action is practically success thatis, one spring is compressed to the iit before the next stronger iscompressed sufficiently to allow of any considerable movement of thepart pressing on it. Vhether or not the action of the springs is purelysuccessive depends on the relative' capacities of the springs. This geardoes not give quite as Great a final resistance in pulling as inbufling, because the front spring F f is strained so far, but

.less resistance is required in pulling than in buiiing, so that this isnotan objection.

The two coil springs and one set of leaf sprin arranged as describedallow a greater travel of the draw-bar than 1s vpossible with' two setsof leaf springs and one 'coil spring, and give nearly as great a finalresistance, while three coilv springs arranged in the same way as thetwocoil springs and one set of leaf springs, shown, would not givenearly as high a resistance and would make the gear so long as topreclude of its use on cars of standard construction.

In the construction of the gear shown in Figs'. 5-8, the generalarrangement of the parts is substantially as above described, but thereare the following differences: The front spring consists of asingle'coil F and the central springs consist of an outer coil G of thesame size as the front spring, and an inner coil g. The intermediatefollower E has no cylindrical stop extension, and the stem of the frontplunger I is tubular and normally bears against the front follower,while the stem of the rear plunger K telescopes therein and is adaptedtodirectly engage the front follower. In this const-ruction the centralspring G g yields first in buffing, the front spring I4V bein' inactiveuntil the intermediate follower which moves with the front plunger I,isarrested by the intermediate stops b2, when the front spring iscompressed and supplements the central spring. The stem of the rearfollower arrests the front follower and so prevents both the front and.central coil springs from being driven solid. rIhis construction gives agreater initial resistance and a slightly shorter draw-bar travelv thanthe first construction, and in pulling the front spring I*V is whollyinactive.

In this specification the term front has been applied to the parts atthe draw-bar end of the gear, and the term rear to the parts at theopposite end thereof, for the salte of clearness of descriptiombutmanifestly the gear .could be reversed and give fairly good results, andit is therefore not necessary that the leaf springs and box follower belocated at the rear endof the gear.

I claim as my inventionf l. The combination of a draw-bar, a pluralityof coil springs and a set of leaf springs arranged one behind the otherlongitudinallybf the gear, and means whereby during a substantialmovement of the drawbar in one direction at least one of said coilsprings is first partially compressed and then moved bodily during thecompression vof the other springs and finally all of said springs arestrained to -offer a graduatedresistance to thev movement of thedraw-bar, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a draw-bar, a plufv rality of coil springs and aset of leaf springs arranged one behind the other longitudinally of thegear, said springs having ydifferent capacit-ies of resistance, andmeans whereby the weaker springs are successively firstv partiallycompressed and then Ymovedy bodily during the compression of thestronger springs, to ,offer a graduated resistance to the movement ofthe draw-bar in one direction, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a draw-bar, a plurality of coil springs and a. setof leaf springs arranged one behind the other longitudinally of thegear, end followers between which said springs are located, anintermediate' follower, stops for said end and intermediate followers,and connections between said end and intermediate followers wherebyduring a substantialk movement of the draw-bar in one direction at leastone of said coil springs is first partially compressed and then movedbodily durin the compression of the other springs am? finally all ofsaid springs are strained to offer a gradu' ated resistance to themovement ofthe drawbar in one direction, substantially as set forth. y

4. The combination of a draw-bar, a plurality of coil springs and a setof leaf springs arranged one behind the other 1ongitudinally of thegear, end followers between which said springs are located, said springshaving different capacities of resistance and said leaf springs havingthe greatest capacity; and intermediate devices and connections betweenthe same and said end followers whereby one of the coil springs is firstcompressed, then moved bodily while the other coil spring-is compressed,then said second spring is moved bodily while the first coil spring andsaid leaf springare compressed to their limit, to offer a graduatedresistance to the movement of the drawbar in buffing, substantially asset forth.

5. The combination of a draw-bar, a yoke attached thereto, end andintermediate followers arranged within said yoke, stopsfor said end andintermediate followers, a set of leaf springs which bear against one ofsaid end followers, said intermediate follower being normally out ofcontact with its stops, two plungersarranged between said intermediatefollower and said leaf springs with one plunger bearing against saidleafsprings,l means for moving both of said plungers positively with theother end follower, a coil spring between said plungers,

and a coil spring between said other end follower and said intermediatefollower, substantially as set forth.

6. The eoifnbination of a draw-bar, a yoke attached thereto, end andintermediate followers arranged within said yolre, stops for said endand intermediate followers, one of said end followers bein hollow, andsaid intermediate follower being normally out of contact with its sto sand having a part adapted toengage said other end follower, a set ofleaf springs in said hollow follower, two plungers arranged between saidintermediate follower and said hollow end follower with one plungerbearing against said leaf springs, a coil spring between said plungers,a coil spring between said other` end follower and said intermediatefollower, a part between one of said plungers and said other endfollower whereby said follower pushes said plunger, a part between saidplungers for limiting the relativ-o movement thereof and causing oneplunger to push the other, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination of a drawbar, a yokef attached thereto, end followersarranged Within said yoke, stops for said end followers, two relativelymovable plungers between said end followers, an intermediate followerbetween one end follower and the adjacent plunger, a set of leaf springsbetween one end follower and the adjacent plunger, coil springsrespectively. between said two plungers and between the other endfollower and the intermediate follower, means for transmitting movementfrom thelast mentioned end follower to the adjacent plunger, and stopsfor said intermediate follower, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of a draw-bar, a yoke attached thereto, end followersarranged within said yoke, stops for said end followers, two relativelymovable plungers between said end followers, an intermediate followerbetween one end follower and the adjacent plunger, a set of leaf springsbetween one end follower and the adjacent plunger, coil springsrespectively between sald two plungers and between the other endfollower and the intermediate follower, means for transmittingmovementfrom one plunger to the other plunger, and means for limitingthe' movement of the plungers, substantially as set forth.

fitness my hand, this 25th day of J anuary, 1908.

THGMAS L. MCKEEN. vWitnesses:

C. E. HORNBEOK, E. C. HARD.

